Best Minecraft Building Styles and Architectures

When playing Minecraft, there are many different types of architecture and building styles that you can follow. The architectural style of your buildings is largely influenced by the thing you are building and the type of blocks you use. For example, a castle built mostly out of stone would easily be considered as following a medieval building style.

Types of Minecraft Architecture

Medieval is the most commonly used building style in Minecraft because stone and wood are so easily accessible. You could build a nice house in Minecraft using just stone and wood within minutes of starting a new world.

Many other styles exist, including modern, asian, viking, middle eastern, and frozen. These Minecraft building styles often use more complicated building materials like colorful concrete blocks, terracotta, and exotic wood types.

We have put together a list of the 6 best Minecraft building styles and architectures in 2023 for you to draw inspiration from.

1. Medieval

This is one of the most common architectures when building in Minecraft because it uses the most abundant blocks in the game: stone, logs, planks, and bricks. Even naturally generated woodland mansions and villages in Minecraft use a medieval building style.

This building style is easy to learn as most buildings are constructed with stone walls and wooden frames. For a more unique look, you could use glazed terracotta patterns for the floors instead of stone or nether brick stairs for the roof. Some medieval things you can think of building are: walled castle villages, towns, libraries, marketplaces, statues, taverns, and churches.

When building using a medieval architecture, it is often a good idea to find a texture pack. Texture packs can greatly enhance the visuals of larger builds like towns and castles.

2. Modern

Building using modern architecture principles is also a popular choice in Minecraft. This building style tends to most closely resemble newer real-life buildings. Often the following elements are included: unique shapes, glass, white wool or concrete, spacious kitchens, glass, and quartz.

To construct a modern building, think about newer real-life buildings you have come across. Skyscrapers with penthouse suites, suburban homes, or condo developments are all examples of modern architecture. For modern inspiration, check out Minecraft House Design for some examples.

3. Asian

A more challenging and less commonly used Minecraft building style is Asian. To better visualize this style, you can imagine building cherry blossom trees, pagodas, shrines, and lanterns. Luckily, newer releases of Minecraft come with naturally generated cherry blossom trees!

This type of architecture can be challenging to work with in Minecraft due to the angles involved in pagoda building. However, some talented players have made it work and the builds look beautiful and very unique.

4. Middle Eastern

A city out in the middle of a desert made out of sandstone, terracotta, or concrete is what defines Middle Eastern architecture in Minecraft. Note other features as seen in the photo above, including colored domes, pillars, boxy residential buildings, and small areas of green space with water fountain pools and trees.

If you build in the desert in survival, you will encounter many mobs and very few animals! Because many mobs can spawn in the desert, it’s a good idea to use torches to prevent mobs from spawning.

5. Viking

Viking architecture in Minecraft puts an emphasis on wood with dramatic roofs as seen in the photo of a stave church. Curves also can be important, as you can imagine with a viking longboat.

The supplies are simple to gather for this building style as you will mainly just need tons of wood. It might be a good idea to construct a tree farm if playing on survival.

Be careful if fire spread is on, one wrong fireplace could burn down the whole build. For further reading on viking architecture, you can check out this Minecraft Guides article.

6. Frozen

Since snow and ice do not melt in cold Minecraft biomes, it is possible to build using a frozen architecture (snow and ice). This allows for a unique building style using these colder blocks directly for the outside walls and roofs.

Sources of heat such as torches, fires, and lava will still melt ice and snow, regardless of the biome you are building in. One workaround is using packed ice which does not melt. It can be obtained from the ice plains spikes biome using a Silk Touch enchanted tool.

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Do you have any ideas or suggestions for Minecraft building styles and architecture? Leave a comment below!